tracks, or dray tracks; and if the night be closing in, this becomes a very interesting search. If not successful in obtaining any clue, you must take chance for it« and go either up or down as your fancy leads. If you find a station, you are all right; if not, you may for a last chance cooey,[1] or fire a pistol, and then listen with your ear to the ground for the barking of dogs. If this be in vain, you then tether your horse, look out for a cherry tree, which is the most approved tree to sleep under, as it affords the most shelter, and makes the best mi-mi, or, breakweather. If you have the means of lighting a fire, you may consider yourself fortunate. This is the regular process of being bushed, and in fine weather it is no great hardship, if you are not very hungry.
A summer night in greenwood spent
Were but to-morrow's merriment.
But in the long, and frequently wet, winter nights, it must be anything but a joke.
The chief charm of a settler's life is its independence. There is something too in the reflection, that by his gains no one is injured; his fee is not subtracted from the pittance of indigence, nor his gains derived from the crimes or misfortunes of mankind. By how much his wealth increases, by so much is an addition made to the stores of mankind. By his efforts too, the
- ↑ The cooey is a call in universal use amongst the settlers, and has been borrowed from the natives. The performer dwells for about half a minute upon one note, and then raises his voice to the octave. It can be heard at a great distance.
